Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London on January 20, 2017, to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by AFP)

Thousands of people across Britain have staged protest rallies against the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States.

Anti-Trump protests were held in the major cities of London, Brighton, Edinburgh, Manchester and more than 150 other locations in the United Kingdom on Friday as the New York businessman was officially sworn in as US president.

Campaigners under the slogan of “Bridges Not Walls” dropped banners from bridges along the River Thames to express their discontent with Trump’s discriminatory policies regarding women and inflammatory rhetoric towards Muslims, migrants and minority groups.

The bridges were draped with banners that read, “Build bridges not walls” and “Migrants welcome here”.

Demonstrators hang a banner that reads “Act Now! Build Bridges not Walls” from Tower Bridge during a protest against the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, in London, Britain, on January 20, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Trump’s inauguration comes as Trump’s presidential campaign has already been marred by his disparaging remarks against minorities in the US. His comments include a call to ban all Muslims from coming to America as well as stopping Mexican migrants by building a long wall along the US-Mexico border.

He has also sought a database to track Muslims across the United States and said that the US had “absolutely no choice” but to close down mosques.

“This isn’t just about Donald Trump, but his inauguration has definitely given us the occasion to protest and he has used very ugly language that we find unacceptable, like threatening to build a wall on the south border of the US, having a Muslim registry or having a Muslim ban. Those are things we find very divisive and hateful and we think affect people’s rights and everyday lives,” said Nona Hurkmans, spokesperson for the anti-Trump campaign.

“We won’t let the politics of hate peddled by the likes of Donald Trump take hold,” she noted.

Demonstrators drop a banner that reads “Migrants Welcome Here” from Westminster Bridge during a protest against the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, in London, Britain, on January 20, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

On November 8 last year, Trump stunned the world by defeating heavily favored Hillary Clinton in the presidential election, sending the US on a new, uncertain path.

The real estate mogul garnered 290 electoral votes in the 2016 US election, while his rival and the former secretary of state received 232 votes despite winning the popular vote.

Trump began his term in office with an approval rating of just 40 percent, the lowest of any recent president, according to a CNN/ORC poll.